IT’S crunch time at Lockwood Park tomorrow!
Third-bottom Huddersfield RU know victory is vital when they host Coventry’s Broadstreet (3.00), the side just one place above them in National II North.
A raft of postponements mean Huddersfield have played 15 times, fewer than any other side in the 16-team division, and only six of those games have been at home.
They trail Broadstreet by eight points, but have two games in hand, and director of rugby Mark Sowerby admitted: “We’re fully aware of the situation and the whole team realise how big a game it is.
“We simply can’t afford to lose at home against a team who are around us in the table.
“We are still only halfway through the season, and if we were to lose it still wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would certainly make for a tough run-in.
“Yes, we have games in hand, but I’d much rather have the points in the bag, and the last thing we want is to let the gap grow too big.”
Broadstreet have won five times, just one more than Huddersfield, and they have a massively inferior points difference, -179 to Huddersfield’s +6.
Huddersfield have played just once in the last seven weeks, losing 24-14 at Fylde a fortnight ago, while their last home game was the 17-9 defeat by Hull on December 5.
The last victory for Sowerby’s side was on October 3, when Fylde were beaten 22-15 at Lockwood Park.
Team: Owen; Van Vuuren, Johnson, Paxman (B), Sutcliffe; Duffy, Clayton; Slater, Davies, Stringwell, Harris, Sharp, Lewis, Whitehead, Hyde. Subs: McPhail, Battye, Andrews, Rhodes, Van Rooyen.
